Best Sketch Comedy Show?

Lowbrow Answer: Saturday Night Live
While the current cast is in pretty good shape, this show has had some rough patches. For every Andy Samberg, we've had two or three Joe Piscopo's. Even when Tina Fey was the head writer, the last 30 minutes of the show have always been unwatchable. SNL is like that super hot girl in high school; everybody talks about wanting to hook up with her, but once you do, you realize she has bad teeth and smells kinda funny.

The worst part about this show is the host. What a moronic idea this is. Let's take ten talented sketch actors and make them pander to the horrible, grade-school theater abilities of some hack movie star or professional athlete. I don't understand it. Chris Farley never stopped by Yankee Stadium to play catcher against the Red Sox for a night, why should Derek Jeter be on SNL?


Middlebrow Answer: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python started it all, rolling out sketches like "Argument" or "The Ministry of Silly Walks" to an unsuspecting 70's television audience. To this day, I pee blood whenever I watch "Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge." Eric Idle is my hero. All of them are my hero. The whole country of England is my hero.

The only problem with Monty Python is, of course, the accents. Ask any American about Monty Python and they'll inevitably give you their best Austin Powers English accent while reciting instructions for igniting the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Kill me. The only people worse than uninformed Monty Python fans are people who wander around quoting Borat and giving two thumbs up.


Highbrow Answer: The State
The State was on MTV in the mid-90's when MTV was actually worth watching. You know, back when they programmed counter-culture shows like Beavis & Butthead and Buzzkill, and actually played music. Nowadays it's just softcore porn for 13-year-old girls with overactive sex drives and a weird love of Spencer Pratt: "I hope I meet an abusive, dickhead rich boy after I get MY first set of breast implants!"

The State wasn't on for very long because it didn't seem to really care what anybody thought of it. There were so many cast members that the show was basically a bunch of friends trying to make each other laugh for thirty minutes. And I'm okay with that. The last thing I want is art trying to pander to my needs. Real art is supposed to spit in my face and tell me to go fuck myself, not hold my hand and ask me what I want for breakfast.

Check out great sketches from The State here and here.